Dreams: Part One (15 page)

“That’s obvious. But do you really like the idea of marriage?“

“Last night I told her maybe we should wait a while.“ The words came slowly, stiffly. “I said maybe next summer we could talk about it again.“

This was probably as much as he could hope for right now, Colby told himself. He could hear Diana telling him not to blow it now. The kid had come more than halfway. “Sounds reasonable,“ he said cautiously.

“She didn’t think so. She doesn’t like the idea of waiting. She’s got it hard at home, you know?“

Something in Brandon’s tone told Colby that Robyn had been more than a little upset. Was that how Brandon had ended up in the girl’s bed? Had Robyn tried to give him a graphic demonstration of the wonders of married life?

“It’s your life too, Brandon. You don’t have to live it the way she wants you to live it. You have a responsibility to do what you think is best, not what anyone else tells you is best. All I ask is that you make your own decision while you’ve still got all your options open.“

“I’m thinking about it,“ Brandon said stubbornly. “You’ve got to understand Robyn’s parents, though. They try to run her life. Always yelling at her. Always fighting.“

“Tell me something, son. If you were having the kind of trouble at home that Robyn is having, would you look for someone else to rescue you or would you rescue yourself?“

Brandon scowled. “I’d get myself out of the house. But that’s different.“

“Is it? If you did use someone else to rescue you, do you think you would ever really feel free?“

“No, not exactly.“

“Do you want to deny Robyn the experience of learning how to get herself free? Do you want her to exchange her dominating parents for a husband she thinks will replace them? She’ll expect you to step right into the role of taking care of her. But she figures you won’t treat her the way they do. You won’t yell at her. I’ll tell you something, Brandon.

After a few months of taking care of her, you probably would be yelling at her. You’d realize she married you only because she wanted to use you.“

Brandon looked up, a faint bewilderment in his fine brown eyes. “Sometimes it’s hard to think straight about things like that, isn’t it? I mean, when you’re with a girl and she starts talking about marriage and stuff while you’re thinking about other things, and you want her to be happy but you also want to go to bed with her, and she knows that and sort of uses that to… oh hell. You know what I mean.“

For the first time since Brandon had arrived, Colby took genuine pity on his son. He gave him a slow, man-to-man grin. “Brandon, good buddy, allow me to tell you that I know exactly what you mean. Welcome to the club. You’re learning the hard way what every man apparently learns the hard way. At the age of forty, I have come to the conclusion there is no easy way to learn it. Women can complicate a man’s life no end.“

“Does Diana complicate your life?“

Colby drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Enormously. And the worst of it is, I don’t think she even realizes it.“

Diana drove into town later that morning with Specter sitting beside her.

“The trouble with men,“ she informed the dog, “is that they can really complicate a woman’s life. They’re so damned difficult to understand. They don’t think logically or rationally, the way a woman does. They don’t know how to analyze their emotions or themselves. They don’t communicate well. They just sort of blunder into your life and stumble around trying to get your attention. When they have it, they don’t know what to do with it.“

Specter whined in sympathy and then stuck his nose out the window to sample the morning smells.

“He never said a word this morning, the bastard. Not one word. I would have sworn he didn’t even remember making love to me, except that he obviously had to get dressed, the same as I did. He must have realized why he’d taken off his clothes in the first place. Specter, we went crazy last night. We just woke up and went crazy. I’ve never taken that kind of risk before. What if something happens? I think I’m getting scared.“

Specter pulled his large muzzle back out of the slipstream and gave her a curious glance. Diana sighed and reached out to pat him reassuringly. “If I’m pregnant, I’ll let you have Colby, okay? I know you’ve been looking for an excuse to sink your teeth into his throat.“

Specter yipped at the name.

“All we can do is wait and see,“ Diana said gloomily. “The odds are in my favor, I think, although it couldn’t have happened at a worse time of the month. But it was only one night and after all, I am thirty-four. I’ve heard it’s more difficult to get pregnant in your thirties than it is when you’re younger.“ She groaned. “But I have to tell you truthfully, Specter. The man felt very fertile to me last night.“

She was still trying to comprehend her own incomprehensible behavior. Her romantic relationships had been few and far between and always conducted with great caution and discretion. She had never in her life awakened in the middle of the night and surrendered to overwhelming passion the way she had last night. She still couldn’t believe it had been her in that cave.

There was no sign of Colby’s Jeep in the post office lot, but Margaret Fulbrook’s aging Cadillac was parked there when Diana arrived. The woman was not in the car, but her unsmiling, heavyset, odd-job man was sitting in the front seat.

“Just my luck,“ Diana told Specter as she opened the car door and got out. “Maybe she’ll ignore me.“ She didn’t really feel like dealing with Margaret Fulbrook today. The woman’s bitterness was enough to chill the soul of anyone who got too close to her.

But Margaret Fulbrook didn’t ignore Diana. She came through the glass doors just as Diana was about to open them. Diana held the door for her, reflecting philosophically on the ingrained nature of one’s personal manners.

“You’re that woman Savagar has taken up with for the summer, aren’t you?“ Margaret Fulbrook demanded without any preamble. Her dark eyes glittered in her rigidly set face.

“I’m Diana Prentice,“ Diana said mildly.

“I want to talk to you.“

Diana’s eyes widened. “You do?“

“Come with me.“ She brushed past Diana, heading toward the Cadillac. The woman was obviously accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed.

Diana shrugged and followed warily. She watched as the grim-faced Harry climbed ponderously out of the Cadillac and opened the passenger door for his employer.

“Thank you, Harry.“ Mrs. Fulbrook settled herself in the seat as if she were assuming her throne. She waited while Harry went back to the driver’s side, and then she angled her fierce gaze up through the window. “Have you seen my grandson?“

She should have been expecting that question, Diana realized. But she’d been preoccupied with other things this morning. “I’ve met him, yes. I had dinner with him and Colby the other night.“

“I'm told he has the Fulbrook eyes. Is that true?“

Diana gazed down at Margaret Fulbrook’s intelligent brown eyes. “Yes, ma’am. He does. He’s a very fine-looking young man.“

“Heard he’s got a girl with him. Probably takes after his father in that respect.“

“He has a girlfriend, yes. Most young men do at that age.“ Diana braced one palm against the roof of the Cadillac and said casually, “He’s just finished his first year in college. Doing very well, I gather. I believe he plans on becoming an engineer.“

Margaret Fulbrook snorted. “Maybe hell amount to more than his father ever did.“

Diana couldn’t repress a smile. “If you’re talking about financial success, Mrs. Fulbrook, I assure you, Colby’s done just fine.“

“I read one of those terrible books of his. Complete nonsense. Nothing but monsters and blood and gore. The stuff of nightmares.“

“Not everybody can write a nightmare. Colby has a real talent.“

“That bastard. He hasn’t got any talent. Leastways, not any respectable talent.“ But there was little heat in the words. It was as if Mrs. Fulbrook had called Colby a bastard so many times during the past twenty years that she could no longer summon up much venom.

“I imagine his publisher would disagree with you,“ Diana said gently.

“Bah. What do I care about his publisher?“ The woman was silent for a long moment, staring straight ahead through the windshield. “What’s he like?“ she asked at last.

“Who, Colby?“

“No! Not Savagar.“ White lines appeared on either side of the woman’s mouth. “I know well enough what he’s like.

He’s a seducer of innocent young girls. He’s a shiftless, no-account, sleazy opportunist who tried to take the easy way out by marrying my daughter. But it all backfired on him. I made sure he never got a dime. Not one thin dime, by God.“

“Did he ever ask for a dime?“

“That’s beside the point! If he never asked, it’s because he figured out fast enough I’d never give him anything. I am not interested in Colby Savagar. I was asking you what my grandson is like. Did Savagar ruin him completely?“

“Brandon is an intelligent, well-educated, well-mannered, well-spoken, surprisingly sensitive young man. I like him very much.“

“No doubt you’ve been brainwashed by Savagar.“

“No doubt.“

“Nineteen years,“ Margaret Fulbrook said slowly. “Nineteen years. And I haven’t seen Cynthia’s son since the funeral.“

“Who’s fault is that?“

“Savagar’s, of course. He never brought the boy to see me.“

“I imagine that’s because he knew you wanted nothing to do with himself or Brandon. I gather you made your wishes clear at the funeral.“

“I still don’t want anything to do with Colby Savagar. But when I heard the boy was in town, I… wondered.“

Diana drew a deep breath and took the plunge. “Brandon asked me about you yesterday.“

The silvered head snapped around. “He did?“

“I think he’s curious about you. He has no kin except for his father. It’s perfectly natural that since he’s here in Fulbrook Corners, he might start wondering about his mother’s people.“

“Probably wonders how much money he can get out of me. The boy was raised by his father and he’ll have turned out just like him.“

Diana hid another smile. “I’ll admit that Brandon is a lot like his father. But he definitely has his mother’s eyes.

Goodbye, Mrs. Fulbrook. I’m sure you’re busy and I’ve got to go pick up my mail. See you around.“ She stepped back from the car.

“One moment, young woman!“

It was nice to be called a young woman, Diana reflected in amusement as she turned back. “Yes, Mrs. Fulbrook?“

“If you had a lick of sense or an ounce of decency and self-respect, you’d stop seeing Savagar. He’ll do you no good, and the bastard doesn’t deserve to be happy, even for the short time he’ll keep you around.“

Diana looked down at her, astonished. “I beg your pardon?“

“You heard me.“ There was a relentless malice in the glittering brown gaze. “I saw the way Savagar looked at you the other day in the post office. He’s finding happiness with you, and he has no right to that. He has no right to happiness of any kind. He deserves to be punished for what he did to my daughter. Stop seeing him!“

Margaret Fulbrook rolled up the window to cut off further conversation, and a few seconds later the heavy car lumbered out of the parking lot. Diana stood and watched until it was out of sight.

When Diana walked back into the cottage half an hour later, her arms full of groceries and Specter at her heels, she almost didn’t notice the flowers in the vase on the hall table.

The bright yellow and white daisies were gone. In their place was a bunch of colorless, decaying weeds.

Diana nearly dropped her packages. “Specter,“ she whispered.

Instantly he was there, pushing a concerned, inquiring nose against her thigh. Then he pressed forward, sniffing around the base of the hall table. He gave a sharp bark and looked at her.

“Somebody’s been in here.“ Diana glanced around nervously. She knew there was no one else in the house at the moment. Specter would have gone crazy. Slowly, she went on into the kitchen, half-afraid of what she might find.

But there was nothing out of place, nothing missing. She let the grocery sacks slide out of her arms onto the tiled countertop and then made herself walk deliberately from room to room. Specter hovered close, sensing her uneasiness.

But he obviously knew there was no immediate threat.

Diana went back out into the hall and stared at the unsightly clump of weeds.

“It’s a joke,“ she told Specter, trying to reassure herself. “Someone’s playing a very strange joke.“ But there was something unsettlingly familiar about this particular prank. It took Diana a minute to remember, and then her memory clicked. “There was an incident like this in Colby’s book.“

Whirling around, she hurried into the kitchen and picked up
Shock Value.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she turned the pages, searching for the right scene. “So help me, Specter, if this is his idea of comedy, I’ll wring his neck.

This is not funny.“

She found the scene in the third chapter. Donnelly had just walked into his home and discovered that a beautiful arrangement of gladioli had been replaced with a ragged assortment of dead weeds.

Shock sliced through him slowly, a dull blade inching along the nerve endings of his spine. He stared at the moldering weeds, knowing they were both an offering and a warning. Their stench filled the air. They trailed limply out of the crystal vase, evil doppelgangers of the fresh, lush blooms they had replaced.

An offering and a warning.

They were tribute to the dark being which the local people believed haunted the cove, and they were also meant as a warning to Donnelly who refused to take such legends seriously.

A passionate rage seized him. He reached out and jerked the weeds from the beautiful vase. He tossed the dead things onto the hearth and watched with satisfaction as the fire eagerly consumed them.